WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- New York is the worst state in the country to be a taxpayer, according to rankings released by WalletHub.com.

The Empire State ranked 51st (including Washington, D.C.) with an average annual state and local tax burden of $9718, which is 40 percent higher than the national average, according to WalletHub.

Wallethub ranked each state in the following categories to come up with its ranking: Real estate tax, state income tax, local income tax, vehicle property tax, vehicle sales tax, sales and use tax, fuel tax, alcohol tax, food tax and telecommunications tax.

New York's neighbors didn't fare well in the rankings, either. Connecticut was ranked no.48 while Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania ranked 45th, 44th and 39th, respectively.

Wyoming ranked as the best state to live in as a tax payer with an annual average tax burden of $2365, or 66 percent below the national average.

Comments (28)

The politicians do absolutely nothing about it every year.
All they do is talk but never do anything in the best intetest
of the people and taxes keep
going up and thats why
people are being forced out of
of their homes and out of
NYS.
To make matters even worse, the county of westchester
appoints murphy as the new
tax commissioner when she
over taxed the people of
heritage hills and local
businesses and now the town
has to pay back over 20
millions. The people of westchester are sick and tired of being over taxed and sick of all the wasteful spending by out of control politicians.

The delusion and elitism of some people never ceases to amaze. Even in an article that shows how we're the worst in the entire country with respect to tax burden people like Christina (below) gloss over and justify it. Not all of us can live on a horse farm and not care what our tax rate is. Articles that tell the truth about Westchester and NY State are bad for two groups: politicians and real estate agents (like Ms. Dochtermann)

Hey wait, I'm a tax payer and I love New York. I've lived elsewhere, but I came back. No place like NY: The City, great beaches, the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks, SUNY, the Taconic Parkway, etc. Worth every penny.

NY is tax hell. Taxes are killing us here. Some of us are tied to this area and bear this burden like a ball and chain. I don't see what we are getting for it either. The roads are messed up, in the schools you have to provide tissues and all sorts of supplies, we pay a fortune for health care, state universities have huge tuition, and even the poor have their services cut. What, really, are we funding? There has to be egregious waste going on and they just keep raising the taxes and we all just pay up.

It is important to note that Westchester taxpayers are actually supporting a large number number of families here in NYS in addition to their own. We pay real estate taxes for out own schools, and town government expenses. Meanwhile, our NYS income tax and lottery wagers all go upstate NYS to pay for three other families. We get back $4.40 for every TEN DOLLARS we send up to Albany. Other NYS counties get back up to $40.00 for every TEN DOLLARS they send in to Albany. Guess who that extra $30. comes from? (See the CGR report, below.)

On the national level, the entire state of NY is taken to the cleaners, and we support 2 more families each; in the southern and western states.
(see Dr Cantor's report, below.)

Finally, on the local level, some of us, like New Rochelle homeowners, support yet one more family, who live in apartment houses in New Rochelle. The average homeowner in New Rochelle pays something like $21,000 in real taxes. The average apartment dweller pays under 2,000., of his rent (through land-lord taxes) into the tax rolls. And the apartment dweller uses more services. So the homeowner truly carries him too.

So, no wonder NYS is # 51; we are paying for six or seven other families in addition to ourselves.

Both need to go. Just yesterday both voted for the Dream Act. Sounds like a great idea to give these kids assistance to go to college, except NY should take care of the people here legally first and not worry about and be so concerned about illegal immigrants.

It amazes me that people actually believe that you must pay higher taxes to receive better services or have better school performance. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. We've just all been brain washed to accept the NY state of "tax and spend" mind.

I would be happy to see the county give up ownership of golf courses and amusement parks in exchange for lower taxes. I have no use for either and both can be owned and operated by private organizations. That money could be spent on education or to provide better "services" elsewhere.

It's interesting that the worst states are all "blue" states. Maybe it's time we elected a more homogeneous mix of public officials so there is less pandering to special interests on either side of the aisle. How about pandering to the taxpayer for a change, and not with empty promises but with real action and accountability.

Enough is enough. I am leaving NY as soon as I can sell my house...if anyone will buy it with such high taxes.

And to all those mutant GOP corporatists snuggling up to Cuomo, ripping Astorino and telling us how good of a job the governor is doing, how do you explain this? Cuomo is a disaster and you guys should be ashamed of yourselves.

Does this ranking assess School Tax, too? We are Fortunate to have Excellent Public Schools in Northern Westchester, especially BCSD. However, did you know that for every dollar we pay in taxes - NY State only shares 12 cents back to support our schools? (The average in NY State is 77 cents!)

Are you aware...that the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) formula in the NY State budget reduces the amount of aid each school district is legally owed so the state can close its budget gap? Over the past four years, the GEA has been used to reduce state aid to BCSD by $4.4 million dollars!!

We pay our taxes...we need our money to support excellence within our schools. Check out http://www.bcsdny.org/spotlight.cfm?sp=63 to learn more. For a quick summary and action links to email/write legislators go to: http://www.bcsdny.org/files/filesystem/01%20gea%20web%20site.pdf

The only way Albany is going to make a change is if our community makes itself heard. Now is the time to work together to Eliminate the GEA & Restore/Return OUR School Aid!

Wasn't the Bike Run Founder/community organizer pushing for the $75 million BCSD budget to be passed just 10-12 months ago? (How do you find the time - really?) E-mails were sent ad nauseum suggesting the $75 million budget be passed by hers truly - and some other gems. Money just has no matter here for mrs D, but it may for the rest of us paupers. Stop sucking up to the BCSD and understand value, results, priorities, accountability and how money can be well spent - especially someone else's. That $75 million you pushed for in tax dollars was quickly cut to almost half. I guess all of that 'other peoples money' was not so necessary after all. The $4.4 million is peanuts compared to the waste in the district. Are you on Hochmans payroll, or do you just like him?

That's all well and good, Christina (and I've already signed the petition and e-mailed our govt officials), but $4.4 million is peanuts compared with the $125 million budget and $32 million bond (that you personally supported when it was $75 million --crazy). GEA or no GEA... we are on the path to fiscal insolvency. Our schools will never be great, long-term until we have a right to work law in NY State and break the union stranglehold on the taxpayers. Our teachers salaries and benefits are too high to be sustained. My ex-superintendent over in Katonah-Lewisboro has a pension that pays him $208K per year (for life) that is TAX-FREE... as well as lifetime health benefits. This is the norm, not the exception in many Westchester districts. You're asking us to fight Albany for scraps, rather than fighting for real long-term stability. No one is going to stay in NY long-term if things continue this way. Who will step up to diffuse the pension bomb before it goes off?

The first line of your post assumes (and excuses) that our high school taxes translate to good schools? This is false.

By the way, there should be NO county government. Another waste of money. Fairfield County (and the rest of CT) does just fine without it.

The BCSD is NOT, by any stretch, a productive or quality district. The rankings by school have fallen in the past 10 years, as taxes continue to rise. They spend-spend-spend. The unions are the problem, and the school superintendent and board here in BCSD are also a problem. They are dishonest, and self serving. They ignore problem children 'AKA Bullys' while preaching about it. There is police involvement at PRES because safety concerns are not being addressed! Cops in a school to contain a Kindergarten kid?? They are under investigation by the feds for these type and other issues, they have layer upon layer of un-needed positions but continue to ask for more $ - and again, rankings stink. I am all for us getting our share back from NY state, but i would prefer other administrators watching how the money is spent when we get it. So, check your comments - we do not have a good school district at all. It was better just a few years ago. And if you are concerned about home values, then you should be very disturbed.

move to Ardsley. pay 50,000$ a year for a 1500 Sq ft house and then come back and tell me how you feel about property taxes. That's a million bucks over 10 years. in 30 yers you will have paid 3 million, just in property taxes, your tax bill will be double what your mortgage is, it's this mentality that lets these officials get away with it

Was there any consideration to citizens satisfaction with public services rendered. You can live in Mississippi and pay low taxes but do you want to send your kids to those schools? This article should also talked about level of public services. Some communities provide almost no public services, that wouldn't fly with NY taxpayers. This is an apples and oranges comparison.

If I paid Miss. taxes, I could send my kids to private school. I get no services from NY, except my garbage gets pick-up twice a week and I expect a cop or fireman to come if I need one. The rest is all fluff. You politicians all think you're doing great stuff for us but we don't want it!

I live in elmsford school district. they are one of the worst school districts in the state. I still pay over 15,000$ in taxes on a house that is less than 1600 sq foot, you are one of the fools that believes it costs this much to run government, it doesn't, we can have the same services any decent to3wn in America pays and have taxes less than 1000$ on each house (some higher because of size) not only does westchester have the highest taxes in the country, but some of the highest property taxes IN THE WORLD WAKE UP AND LOOK AT THE STATISTICS

get rid of county government. It's full of redundant, 6 figure positions, already covered by state and local level. and is a huge waste of money. It would immediately drop property tax levels. It's been done with great success in other states

The real question to ask is: what services are you getting for your tax dollars? I accept that there are places to cut back like on property taxes (has Westchester County done a revaluation of all houses yet?). But for the services that people demand, the price is paid in higher taxes.

what "services" are you referring to? I don't get any "services" my roads are barely plowed in the snow and my town has potholes that could swallow a car. schools are "bring your own" everything. Services?

I really don't want or expect anything. New Rochelle talked about reassessment but the mayor said it'll cost $2 million that the city doesn't have so I'd like to know what does our full time assessor actually do? I think he should be fired.